You are here:

Marvel’s The Defenders Can’t Appear On Disney+ For At Least 2 Years

Following the announcements of Marvel shows on Netflix being cancelled, many have speculated about characters like Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist coming to Disney+. However according to sources close to Variety, this won’t be happening any time soon.

This is because there is a clause in the contract that prevents members of the Defenders appearing in any non-Netflix series or film for at least two years after cancellation. Which means Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist wouldn’t be able to appear on Disney+ until late 2020 at the earliest. And with Jessica Jones season 3 not set to appear on Netflix until sometime in 2019, Jessica Jones wouldn’t be able to appear on Disney+ until 2021.

It’s not yet clear if “The Punisher” would fall under this deal, since it wasn’t in the original Netflix/Marvel contract, which was signed back in 2013, but with Season 2 set to come to Netflix in January 2019, it’s expected that this show will also be cancelled as Disney want no new Marvel shows on other networks to make Disney+ the home of Marvel.

So while many fans would love to see stories featuring “The Defenders” continue on Disney+, this piece of news about the contract, could help put that talk on the back burner for a while. But with Disney+ not set to launch until late 2019, they’ve got plenty of time to have discussions about continuing telling stories of these Marvel characters.

Neither Marvel and Netflix commented to Variety on the report. Netflix have already confirmed the shows will be available on for years to come, but with Disney+ not launching until late 2019, there is still time for Disney to work out a plan for these characters, be it Daredevil Season 4, The Defenders Season 2 or something new like “Heroes For Hire”.